Christmas!!

This has quite possibly been the Best Christmas Ever! Santa was on his A-Game this year and everyone was delighted with their gifts. Rylee LOVED her giant dog...which she named "Murray" and she also loved all the cooking supplies she got! Audree was stoked to finally get the American Girl Doll she'd been asking for for 2 years! Karlee loved the twin baby dolls she got...she will be such a good mommy one day! Spencer got a sweet racetrack and a Heli-cage! Then to top it all off Santa spoiled us rotten with a Wii game console and a giant beanbag in the basement! What a fabulous day.

Extended Clark Family Christmas Festivus!

With Christmas quickly approaching the Clark Family festivities have been in full swing! The Family Christmas party got started at Fat Cats this year...it was the perfect way to gather together and get things rolling...this party goes on all night! After bowling we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's for games (Bingo!), Santa, adult white elephants (hilarious!) and cousin gift exchange! I know these parties are something my kids will always remember when they think of the holidays! Such a fun time!

Then on Sunday we all gathered here at our house for a soup/chili dinner, christmas cookies and a trip to the Spanish Fork Lights! This is a tradition we have come to cherish, as well! We bundle up, cram ourseleves into Grandpa's truck and drive thru the light display! I don't know how we manage to fit in there every year...especially because the kids have gotten a LOT bigger...but we make it work!

Spencer is 6!!

This year I finally decided to be a good mommy and throw Spencer an actual birthday party. It's been so hard having his birthday so close to Christmas...but we went ahead and planned his Big Boy Birthday Party! He wanted to invite some friends to go to HangTime with us. We had a great time! The boys were so funny...this was our first official "boys" birthday party and boys are hilarious! Jack, Caleb and Hyrum came with us and then we went back to the house for pizza, presents and Oreo cupcakes!

Crazy Hair Day!

This is Spirit Week at Sage Creek and the girls have been so excited about crazy Christmas sweater day, backwards day and pajamas day...but the day they have talked about the most is Crazy Hair Day! What can I say...that is a day that I can really sink my teeth into! I love to play around with my girls hair! So, we looked stuff up online and talked about what they wanted....
Rylee wanted Cindy Lou hair from the Grinch, Audree liked this reindeer bun idea we found online and Karlee just wanted a big, puffy ponytail and giant bow. I think they turned out fun and I hope they have a fabulous day at school! So fun!

Christmastime Festivities!

We have been spending the last couple weeks getting in the Christmas Spirit! It's been loads of fun! We hit the mall for Family Home Evening and got to visit Santa and shop around.

We spent another Family Home Evening making homemade ornaments for the tree...it's an annual tradition! Our tree is covered with photos of the kids from each year...it's always fun to pull out the old ornaments every year and see how much the kids have grown. This year the ornaments were suncatchers that the kids painted and we modge podged their photos to the back of the ornaments. We listened to Christmas music and had a great evening!

Later that night we made "candy cane cookies" together. I only make these once a year and the kids like to help make snakes out of the dough and twist them together like candy canes. Good times!

I'm a Lucky Lady!

Jake brought these home to me for no reason at all! I LOVE them and it made my day.

It's begining to feel like Christmas!

On Saturday I had a photography session up at the Salt Lake Temple and we had no other plans for the rest of the day...so, we decided to make a day of it!! Jake and the kids went to the Visitor's Center on Temple Square while I took pictures...they met some sweet sister missionaries who watched the Mormon Message we were in a couple years ago with them...the kids thought it was awesome when the sister's asked the kids for their autographs!! Then we all met up together and went out to lunch, checked out the new City Creek Center shopping area, and headed over the The Gateway shopping center. I couldn't believe it...we shopped with the kids for like 3 hours and there was no complaining!! We all had a great time at toy stores for big kids and toy stores for little kids! Then we went to dinner and hopped on Trax to go see the lights at Temple Square. The weather was mild and the crowds not too big! It was a great night...we capped it off with some hot cocoa on the way home. One of my favorite days I can remember! LOVE my family and LOVE this time of year!

Audree- Bravest of the Brave!

The first day back to school after the Thanksgiving Holiday Audree and her friend, Ellie, volunteered to sing the National Anthem to their school during the morning announcements. She was a little nervous, but it didn't show a bit! I was actually quite impressed, they did a fabulous job. That's a tough song, but they hit every note, sang on key and their timing was perfect. I was such the proud mommie!! Great job, girls!!

Thankgiving is a Treat!!

We LOVE our annual trip to California for Thanksgiving!! It's our last hoorah of sunshine for several months...while we were there this year I just kept driving with the windows down trying to soak in all the sunshine and warmth that I could (which was easy to do when it was 80 degrees outside!). What a great week!

We got to see Travis and Katie's family on Saturday and Sunday...and then they headed out to be with Katie's family. We were glad to see them while we could...Bryton is getting SO big! Besides, we would have missed out Travis's mustache...which would have been devastating!

While I went and had my make-up done, Jake took the kids to watch Mackenzie and Garrett's soccer games! They had a blast hanging out with their cousins!

On Monday we took the kids to Knott's Berry Farm! It was the perfect choice...not too big, not too small! Lots of roller coasters for the big kids (and Jake) and smaller rides for Spencer and Audree (although Spencer was bummed he couldn't go on more of the big rides!). Karlee and Rylee loved "Old Rickety" the wood coaster, Spencer loved the race cars at Camp Snoopy, Audree loved "Jaguar" the roller coaster and Daddy loved the "Xcelerator". There were also lots of rides we could go on as a whole family...which is best of all! Then Grandma GiGi and Grandpa met us for a chicken dinner afterwards. What a day!

Thanksgiving Day was great...Daddy went surfing in the morning and we all hung out in our jammies cooking up a storm! I was in charge of the orange rolls...as usual! The kids helped Grandma GiGi make cupcakes. We ate at my cousin Julie Goodman's house. The kids loved it because they had a ping-pong table, Spencer loved their bunny "Hopper"...he chased it al afternoon trying to feed it carrots! After the big feast the kids walked to the nearby park and played. It was a great day!

One afternoon Brooke came over and gave all the little girls make-overs...they LOVED it! Then I gave them a photo shoot...so girlie!

Our last day in California we hung out at the beach! It was a bit chilly...but the kids didn't mind a bit!